All At Once
by Aravis Hreidmar
Summary: Nearly thirty years later, Brady and Mack's daughter, Alex, catches a fateful tide with her boyfriend, transporting them back to a familiar movie scene. It's nice to know that some things never change, but that's not really the case here. . . is it?
1. Chapter 1

"I'm gonna go out and _actually_ enjoy the beach," the sixteen-year-old scoffed, running off the porch of the shop with her obnoxiously yellow board to the shallow shore.

"Don't have too much fun!" Brady called back at her. She merely shooed off his comment with a wave of her hand. Brady sighed as Mack giggled at his side, seating herself on the arm of the loudly colorful chair Brady sat in.

"I don't like her sass," Brady commented with a smile threatening to break his trying-to-be-stern face.

"I have _no idea_ where she gets it," Mack joked, folding her arms across her chest, chuckling a little.

Brady wrapped an arm around his wife's waist, pulling her into him slightly. "Why'd she have to be so much like you?" he whined.

This was true. Alex was smart like her mother. Not that Brady wasn't smart, but Mack had him beat when it came to a battle of wits. She had Mack's thick brown hair and her "_cute button nose_" as Brady had put it. She adopted both her parents' brown eyes and love for the waves. As much as it drove Brady crazy, he appreciated her headstrong and determined attitude; truly just like her mother.

"You say it like it's a _bad_ thing," Mack smiled, "you already got a Brady-clone son in college and a dopey little blondie girl in first grade who's just like you. It's about time I get someone on my side," she beamed. Brady chortled. There was a pause. "She's a lot like her grandmother, too."

Brady looked at her, a lonely tear falling down her face. "_McKenzie_," he said quietly. He rarely ever called her that.

Mack quickly brought her hand up to her face to clear her tears. "Sorry," she muttered.

"Don't be sorry," Brady said, taking one of her hands and lacing his fingers with hers. Mack let her head fall to his shoulder. She sniffled as they watched their daughter surf the same shores they surfed years and years ago.

Brady's eyes veered to his side, looking at the old board that always seemed to glisten. After Brady and Mack married and Big Poppa passed, Brady decided to keep the old shop running. They had the legendary board out in the front of the shop, looking just as it did thirty years ago on the fateful tide.

"Can't be too long until the next storm," Mack remarked, also finding herself looking at the board.

"What?" Brady asked, looking up into Mack's brown eyes.

"Every thirty years, remember? It seems as if exactly thirty years ago, you and I rode to a 1962 surf-turf war on a tropical storm. Or do you not remember that?" Mack joked, nudging Brady's side.

Brady and Mack had rarely talked about the incident. It's not like anybody would believe it. They had told the tale to Alex and Alan as children and still tell it to seven-year-old little Clara, when they couldn't sleep, but such a story held so much fictional element that they thought nothing of it.

"How could I forget?" Brady smiled at her.

XXX

That evening, Brady found himself in the shop waxing some of the boards in front of the TV watching Wet Side Story for the umpteenth time that summer. Mack had still found his infatuation with it to be silly, but Alex loved the movie and watched it with her father every time he put it in.

Alex skipped in the shop with a wide grin gracing her face. She announced her presence, "Guess what?"

Before Brady or Mack could respond, she squealed and ran to her father's side and exclaimed her love for the film, her earlier excitement fleeing as she watched the movie, enthralled.

Brady chuckled, "What was so exciting?"

"Luke tells me that in a few-"

Brady cut her off, raising an eyebrow, "_Luke_? Who's Luke?" he questioned.

"Brady," Mack said from the sofa, nearly scoldingly. Brady quirked his eyebrows at her.

Alex looked down and tucked a falling lock of wet brown hair behind her ear. "Never mind."

Brady laughed, "Continue,"

Alex went on about a storm coming from up north and how it's going to cause huge waves on the shore in a few days. Brady merely arched an eyebrow at her, and Mack watched, laughing. Alex stopped midsentence.

"Why is that so funny?" she asked with venom.

Mack stopped laughing, "You sound like teenage Brady thirty years ago."

Brady laughed. "More like teenage Mack! You were the one that just had to get out there. I was the one that had to go out save your ass!" Brady joked.

"Well, we all know how that ended!" Mack teased.

"Yeah, okay…" Alex said, chuckling as she watched her parents play-fight. "I'm off to bed. Don't go _too_ crazy."

"Don't you want to watch the rest of Wet Side Story with me?" Brady called to his daughter.

"I'm good," she claimed, leaving the room.

"No thinking about boys!" Brady called jokingly. Alex waved it off with a whatever and kept walking.

Brady took a seat next to Mack on the couch and sighed.

"Maybe she'll go to Wet Side and relive the movie. Mess up the plot some other crazy way." Mack teased.

Brady huffed disapprovingly, "Like I'd _ever_ let her on the water at a time like that."

Mack shrugged. "Maybe that Luke boy will go with her."

Brady groaned and winced as if he were in physical pain. Mack merely laughed. "I _highly doubt_ anything's going to happen," she assured him, "Get to work, Blondie. Those boards aren't going to wax themselves," she smirked.

"Oh, yeah. She _definitely_ gets it from you," Brady remarked with a jesting smile as he got up and kissed her cheek before going at his work again.

**Eh? I really hope this was nice to read and I hope you're excited for more! Leave a review down below on what you like, want, and don't want in this story! It'll be great, I SWEAR! Gee, ain't Brack just the sweetest little ship you ever did see? Hm, well don't forget to review, follow, and favorite! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Welp, I've gotten to that second chapter. C'mon, I know y'all can review, let's get this story going with reviews! I promise this is the last boring chapter, haha. Enjoy!**

On most mornings, Alex would usually sneak in a surf on the nearby shores with Luke before her parents got out of bed. But this morning was an exception.

Alex, donned in her signature purple shirt-yellow shorts surf combo, tiptoed down the sandy worn wood stairs, gathering her thick brown waves into a ponytail. Halted by the light on in the shop, Alex stopped in her tracks, the floorboards beneath her creaked. She winced at the sound and began walking toward the door.

Brady poked his head out from the shop, "Alexandria, darling!" he shouted theatrically. Clara's head craned around the corner, two blond braids whipping amok, yelping, "Lexi!"

Alex froze. "Guys? What're you doing up so early?" she inquired, alarmed.

"I could ask the same to you, kiddo," Brady came out of the room, Clara following, "got a date," he glanced at his watch, "at six in the morning?" he chuckled.

Alex stiffened. She was to meet up with Luke, so in a way, it was a date. And she knew how her father felt about boys and whatnot. She shook her head no and tried scurrying to the door.

"Why are you dressed for a surf? The tide's pretty lame this early, you know," he informed her.

"Yeah, yeah I know. Just…just going for a walk, Dad. Nothing to report. Bye, Clare-bear." Alex left out the door and sprinted toward the cluster of palms where she and Luke would meet most mornings.

He greeted her with a flashy bright smile, his usually messy chestnut mop organized in a neat short cut, his grass-green eyes reflected the colors of the sunrise on the ocean surface.

"What, no board?" Luke jested, gesturing to his own surf board.

Alex sighed. "I couldn't get mine, my dad and sister, they were-"

Luke interrupted her, "About that, when do I get to meet your family?" Alex huffed and glared at the boy. Luke looked at her with mock-puppy-dog eyes. "Pwease, Lexi?" he prodded, using the name he knew weakened her.

Alex sighed and bit her lip, exasperated. "Soon, I don't know, Luke. Can we just get a board and go?"

Luke gripped her hand in his and they ran, hand in hand, to the nearby rental shack.

XXX

Between fork clangings and the occasional commentary on the meal, Mack chatted about Alan's returning home tomorrow morning.

"Alex!" Brady and Mack shouted simultaneously across the table. Alex raised her head sharply, startled. Brady chuckled.

"What?" the girl snarled.

"Anyone in particular you'd like to invite to dinner when Alan's over?" Brady inquired, winking mockingly.

Alex looked to her mother. "What's he talking about?"

"Oh, don't pretend," Mack jested. Clara nudged Alex's side, giggling. "We all saw you with that boy." Alex went stiff. They knew about her sneaking out? What else did they know? "What's his name? Larry, Leo, Lance…?"

"Luke," Alex corrected, smiling at her food at the mental image of his ocean-green eyes that lit up when he smiled. Mack and Brady gave each other a look at their daughter's besotted state.

Brady cleared his throat, "Yeah, so maybe you could invite Luke tomorrow when your brother's over,"

Alex was zapped back into reality. Tomorrow? Tomorrow was when the storm was supposed to hit, how was she supposed to be pent-up at home with family? "Well, tomorrow is when the storm is supposed to hit," she began; everyone at the table sighed, exhausted, "Luke and I were gonna try to catch it, you know, surf…" she trailed off.

"Oh, no you aren't," Brady immediately started, "you're not going on the water any time soon, not in this weather." Brady shook his head as he got up from his chair to clear his place.

Alex filled with anger at her father and followed him. "What the hell, dad!" she yelled.

"Alex!" Mack scolded from the table, covering little Clara's ears at the swear. Clara giggled mischievously.

The teen rolled her eyes and stomped to her father. Brady stood tall before her; intimidating, he was. Tall, muscular, scars showing from surfing accidents from waybackwhen. He folded his arms and looked down at Alex. She paced back.

"You can't just keep me here," she spat, "I'm going out there tomorrow, Dad. I don't care what you say." With that, Alex stomped up the stairs, quietly crying on her way to her room to text Luke.

Brady shook his head as he joined Mack and Clara at the dinner table. "That girl…" he trailed, still shaking his head, taking a grape from Clara's plate.

"Hey!" the little girl shouted. Brady smirked and flicked her blond braid, Clara stuck her tongue out at him. Brady smiled at the girl's innocence, still glad he had someone on his side.

"You two are such children," Mack commented, laughing lightly. Brady shot up quickly and ran to the shop, Clara following at his heels. Mack got up and cleared the table before joining the two in the shop.

Brady began sanding a board with a loud machine as Clara sat on the table, playing with a bar of wax in her hands. Mack stood next to her husband, watching him work.

"What're you gonna do when she goes out there tomorrow?" Mack asked softly. Brady stopped the machine and took off his goggles to look at his wife with a compromised expression. "You know she will, Brady. What are you going to do?"

Brady looked down, stuck. Mack pried, "You're not gonna let her out there, Brady. You can't…"

Brady held her shoulders, "Listen," he started quietly, "whatever happens, I promise I won't let Alex get hurt. Okay?" Mack looked unconvinced. "McKenzie? Okay?" she nodded, a lonely tear marking her face. Brady brought her into a warm embrace, followed by a brief kiss.

Clara snickered, "Mommy, Daddy, stop kissin'!" she giggled. Mack bit her lip and pecked Brady's lips again. Brady picked up Clara and tickled the girl. Clara laughed loudly and demanded to be set down. She hugged her father and spoke with serious clarity, "I promise I won't ever yell at you like Lexi," she looked up at Brady, "I love you Daddy."

Brady smiled at the girl, a spitting image of himself. "You promise?"

Clara held up a small pinky, "Pinky promise." Brady linked his large finger with her small one.

"How about we get the house ready for your brother when he comes tomorrow, eh, kid?"

**AWWW I just _had _to end with a cute little Clara moment, because why not. The next chapter will be even better and even longer (yay!). Can't wait to read all your reviews!**


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